20 March 2014

An ELF Haul & Review

If I remember correctly, my first ever blog post was indeed, an ELF haul. It's one of those things that every beauty blogger has to do at some point in time. Most people like myself, find themselves doing it quite early on in the blogging 'career'. I mean - how often do you come across £1.50 (granted, now they're mostly £1.75 I believe) products that get rave reviews?

Anyway, I'm an avid anti-P&P person when it comes to large businesses and so leaped at their 50% off sale late last year. After years of wanting one or two things from them, I finally wanted enough and enough of my wishlist was in stock that I could justify a purchase.. not gonna lie, there are more products I'd love to try.

The Kabuki Face Brush was an old favourite back in the day, which I lost or gave away, and I've yet to find another 'dusting'-friendly kabuki. So I repurchased it, and as much as I love the softness and how it works, unlike my old one, this one sheds like a motherrrr. It's nice, but sad to see it has gone downhill.

The Studio Blush Brush was the ideal purchase for cream and liquid blushers because of its synthetic bristles. Lo and behold, I recently won a giveaway by Daniel Sandler for his new Watercolour Blushes in Mayfair and Chelsea (highly recommend - review pending), and have found this brush to be a dream. It also works well with powders, but if you find the Daniel Sandler brush to be a bit pricey - give this one a go.

The Mineral Powder Brush has been great for my loose powder foundations - it builds coverage beautifully, albeit a bit small for all over your face. I find it a decent dupe for the MAC 109, but it has a less flat and wide surface, which still puts the MAC 109 in front for blushes for me. That being said, it is a superb concealer blender - who would've thought? It doesn't buff concealer to oblivion as it doesn't soak product up, but just blends out the edges nicely whilst maintaining the coverage. The synthetic fibers also mean they're so soft and won't irritate spots or the undereye at all.

I could take or leave the Baked Bronzer in St. Lucia. It's a nice product, and I like it for a subtle highlight but it's nothing spectacular. It has a nice sheen and decent pigment. I tried it as an eyeshadow - don't.

The Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum, on the other hand, is stunning. The pigment is gorgeous, it blends onto the eyes amazingly and the lasting power is decent. Definitely a good option if you want to try out new colours that you aren't sure if you'll like - Burnt Plum was not exactly my go-to colour.

Yu

P.S. Very sorry for the lack of posts recently - my SD card reader has died, so I can't upload new photos and I'm still trying to source an alternative. Thank you for your patience :)